James Heffernan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

One second. I am just after standing up. I welcome the ambassador, Mr. Abdul Abdelrazek, to the Visitors Gallery and note my support for Senator Averil Power's amendment to the Order of Business.

The Maíria Cahill case was raised a couple of times today. I took on board what Sinn Féin said about how the IRA filled a vacuum in terms of policing and that people did not have confidence in the RUC in the North. However, the regime that was put in place in terms of the police, courts and the justice doled out by republicans - I use that term very loosely - was pretty brutal. It included knee-capping, tarring and feathering and water boarding. People paid with their lives for more serious offences. Where kangaroo courts got decisions wrong there was no leave for appeal. More often than not one ended up in hospital, on the boat to England or down a bog hole.

I abhor the reaction coming from the leadership of Sinn Féin on this issue. This is not about Sinn Féin being badger baited or kicked around politically. It is not a witch hunt. Rather, it is about trying to get Sinn Féin and those in leadership positions in the IRA and Sinn Féin to come clean and face up to their responsibilities and the mistakes they made. The story being reported today is the most worrying so far. It concerns a kangaroo court in 2002. The excuse about a policing and justice vacuum no longer stacks up. The court to which I refer took place in the Twenty-six Counties, in County Louth, and concerns two brothers who were abused by an IRA man who was on the run.